Life under sniper fire from Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen and other stories | Global News Podcast

This is the Global News podcast from the. BBC World Service. I'm Celia Hatton. Here are the headlines. The BBC gains. rare access to the front lines of the. conflict inside Yemen. To the city of. Taz that's surrounded by Houthy snipers. >> Oh, really? Okay. I think we need to get. off this roof. If our security is saying. we need to get off. Okay, let's go. The. snipers are positioned just over there. We shouldn't be on this roof. >> We're in France where students, parents, and teachers are taking to the streets. to demand more investment in education.

The arrest of a US Marine accused of. murder in Japan sparks protests against. American military presence in the. country. Also in this podcast, the. precarious mission to save the Hubble. telescope and what it's taught us about. space. We were able to understand that. in the whole of the universe, there are. around a 200 billion galaxies. Our. galaxy is the Milky Way and it contains. 300 billion stars and our local star is. the sun. So it really set the scale of. you know the size of the cosmos.

>> Let's begin with the situation in Yemen. Over the last few days, fighting has. surged there as government forces began. an offensive aimed at recapturing. territory from the Houthi rebels. Yemen. is in a strategically important spot on. the Arabian Peninsula and its civil. conflict is fueled by external. interests. The Houthis are backed by. Iran and Yemen's government has support. from Saudi Arabia. The government says.

it's been making significant gains. against the Houthis and we'll have more. on that in a moment. But let's get a. picture first of how the conflict is. affecting people in one of the key. battlegrounds, the city of Taz in the. southwest. Residents live with the. threat of Houthi snipers and artillery. around the city. Our senior. international correspondent Noal. Alamagafi has recently returned from. TAZ. A warning, her report contains. distressing witness accounts.

>> It looks like an ordinary scene. Children playing before class, but there. is nothing ordinary about going to. school here in the crosshairs of Houthi. snipers. Every day they're risking their life for. an education. Beyond the school's. perimeter is a no man's land. The. fighting often reaching the fence line. I meet Mr. Abdul Rakib. He's a math. teacher, but he's also responsible for.

the school security. This is where snipers are located. They. have military camps and barracks. They have heavy weapons in these areas. The only thing between us and them is. this valley. >> Oh, really? Okay. I think we need to get. off this roof. If our security is saying. we need to get off, let's go. They'll. think that's. obviously here every single day and he's. feeling very confident. >> But if the snipers are positioned just.

over there, we shouldn't be on this. roof. >> From the rooftop, you begin to. understand just how exposed the school. really is. These children have never known anything. but war. Each one of them has their own. story to share. >> There was a mortar and we were at home. >> Everyone was out except for me and my. brother. Then a mortar came out of nowhere.

>> Did it hit your home? I asked her. >> No. Right outside the distractional blew. through the door and into the house. Just outside the school gates, the scars. of war are everywhere. Bullet holes and. shrapnel damage mark the street. In Taz, the danger comes from all directions. Healthy positions surround the city. While we were there, four people were. shot by snipers in just 24 hours.

The city's children are the greatest. victims. Amjud is just 11 years old and. he is fighting for his life. >> His mother is living every parent's. worst nightmare, praying desperately. that he survives the night. Nurse shows me the shoes of a. three-year-old boy who was killed in the. same attack. His mother will never see.

her son again. >> We're always terrified. It's devastating. to see children killed. What did they. do? They haven't done anything. It's. devastating. He's suddenly hit by a missile in the. street. A child who has gone out to play. or gone to school. >> These celebrations mark the anniversary. of Yemen becoming a republic, something.

the Houthies reject. Now the government has launched a major. offensive to defend it. >> Taz is a city surrounded by war, but its. people refused to be defeated by it. Earlier, Noel joined me in the studio. and she told us why the city of Taz. matters so much to both the Houthis and. the government. Firstly, it is the.

closest point inland to the city of. Mocha which is sits on the Babbl men. straight and it's mountainous terrain. and so it's surrounded by these. mountains. The Houthis are really good. at fighting at mountains. Whoever takes. control of Taz maintains control of. Mocka and Babel Mandab um Babel Mandab. and Mocka are flat terrain, coastal. terrain. It's very easy to take it over. and that's why that front line keeps on. shifting. Another thing about Taz is. that it is densely populated. It's got.

about 4 million civilians living in Taz. and so you have control of a very. heavily populated uh city and it's also. the direct road from uh Taz to Aiden and. it's the closest point to the area that. the Houthies control in the north. So if. you take control of Taz, if the Houthies. do, it gives them very easy access to. carry on all the way to Aiden and take. control of the entire country. >> Now, can you give us the latest on that.

bid by government forces to take back. control that was recently won over by. the Houthis? >> I've got to say, for someone who follows. what's happening in Yemen quite closely, it's been a shocking month all around to. see what's happened. You know a month. ago we were reporting on the Houthis. taking over Mocka and Babel Mandab and. what a shock that is that they've taken. over this very important uh world. waterway. Um and now in what the last 48. hours the government have announced that. they've retaken control of Babel Mandab.

When I was there last week we embedded. with government forces on the front line. and they were telling us the Houthis are. taking more and more ground every day. We need reinforcement. We need more. support. We need the Saudis to show. interest and to back us from the air. Otherwise, the Houthies are taking more. ground. And it sounds like those calls. haven't fallen on deaf ears. You know, this weekend we saw pre the president of. Yemen, Rashad Alimi, um launch this new.

offensive. And clearly the Saudis are. backing him with full force. 300 air. strikes in the last 48 hours, backing. the government forces on the ground. and. they are taking control of more and more. ground as we speak. But as I said, Taz. is the critical point. The Houthies, they are fighters. They're boots on the. ground and they are formidable and they. know how to fight in the mountains and. they've been in control of those. mountains for years now. Will the. government be able to push them out of.

them? Like, we're just going to have to. wait and see what happens in the next. couple of days. It's really striking. when you comment that there were there. are 4 million people caught in the. crossfires just in that one city. Is. there any prospect for relief for the. people there? Are they trying to figure. out ways to to get out of that main. conflict area? >> I've reported from across the country. and I think uh you know and every time I. come back with reports are absolutely. harrowing and devastating, but I've got. to say the situation in Taz is the worst. I've ever seen. to be entrapped.

surrounded by these mountains where. snipers have taken positions and are. shooting into the city on a daily basis. There is artillery mortar just. sporadically being thrown in uh from. those mountains into the people of the. city every day. Um and then you have the. humanitarian situation. Food is not. getting in. The Houthis are control of. all three roads. Uh there's only one. road that the government is able to. access and it is a very uh difficult.

road. It's not as felt. You see lorries. toppling over as they're trying to carry. in supplies to the city. Um and so I. really hope there is relief for the. people of uh Taz soon. to France now. where tens of thousands of demonstrators. have gathered on the streets in what's. being called a nationwide day of action. in support of students demanding more. investment in education. Students, parents, teachers, and trade. unionists have joined the protests. But.

as peaceful protests continue, so has. disorder. Protesters have clashed with. police in Leon. In Strasburg in. northeast France, there have been. reports of firecrackers being thrown at. police officers. Our Europe. correspondent Nick Beak sent us this. report from Leil in northern France. >> Well, this is a school in the northern. city of Le. You can see some. firefighters have turned up here because. a bins beam set a light. All the. students here are protesting and this is.

a scene that's replicated in lots of. parts of the country today. If you talk. to these students, they say they want a. lot more investment in their education. They say the classrooms are crumbling, that there's far too many pupils crammed. in, and they want this to change. This. fire's now been put out, but the fire is. burning across this country. It's a. nationwide. day of action. Poples here say they're. willing to come out again if needs be.

because they really want this to change. The government has acknowledged that. there are legitimate concerns here, but. there's been a lot of violence over the. last week or so. Teachers attacked, some. schools have been set ablaze, and also. the police have been accused of being. heavy-handed towards some of the. students. It looks like this will. continue. >> As Nick mentioned there, protests are. taking place across the country. Our. correspondent Mark Lohen is in. Marseilles. We've been following the.

crowds right through the city. There. have been thousands of people on the. streets here. It's been pretty peaceful. starting in and moving through the. streets of various parts of the city and. now we've come down to an area where. actually the police are further down. there. We've walked past huge lines of. riot police vehicles and now another. protest has gathered here. Uh now it's. been peaceful up until now but over the. last two or so weeks clearly parts of. the protests have turned to extreme. violence. There have been uh more than. 20 schools ransacked or or set a light.

There have been dozens of teachers. injured. There have been some very. serious injuries among the students. Um. most recently that tragic case in. Northern France of the 15year-old boy. who lost his hands to a police grenade. He is in hospital. His life is not in. danger. But all of these protesters have. the same message which is that they want. an improvement to the conditions of. their schools. The overcrowding, the. dilapidation, and the decay there in the. schools. Let's speak to two high school. students here in Marseilles, Alisa and. Sasha who have joined the protests.

Thanks very much for being with us. Tell. us why you're out on the streets today, Alisa. >> Oh, we're here to fight for our rights. Since a week we've been on strike, we're. blocking schools. We are we're going in. the street because they closed our. schools. We can't protest in front of. our schools. So, we're going to the. streets with everyone. Uh for the whole. week, it's been mostly high schoolers, students, and here we have the. professors with us. We have a have a a. lot of more people with us. So and we. fighting for what we want government to. invest more in public schools because uh. like the private schools are struggling. but schools are falling apart especially.

in Marseilles in more uh how do you say. >> disadvantaged neighborhoods so a lot of. schools in those neighborhoods uh there. can be leaks in the ceilings there's. rats also in there uh so in general the. um the. condition of the school exactly the. condition in which we uh work is uh very. poor. >> Still to come, we look back at the life. of best-selling author and former.

politician Jeffrey Archer, who's died at. the age of 86. Let's go to Japan now. We've been. following the public anger sparked by. the arrest of a US Marine suspected of. killing a Japanese woman. The body of. Anayagi was found on Saturday in a hotel. room in Okinawa. The Marine, who's 20. years old, has denied the accusations. He's one of 50,000 US troops stationed. in Japan. There have now been more.

protests, as we heard from our Japan. correspondent, Kuru Mimorei. We've been. seeing protests pop out in different. parts of the country, actually since. Sunday. So, the day of the arrest of. this 20-year-old US Marine in Naha, which is a city uh the the capital of. Okinawa, our southmost island of Japan, there were protests around 100 or so. gathered. I want to point out that when. you look at the footage, you can see. that the majority of the people. protesting are Okinawa women. And that's.

because that there is a longstanding. history of local women being involved in. sexual crimes by US servicemen. It is a. huge concentration of the US military. facilities are based in Okinawa. About. 70% of all of them uh in Japan. So it. has been a very long long uh time. Uh. many many instances of these crimes. So. yeah, a lot of protests happening all. over the country. There was one in front.

of Shinjiku station here in Tokyo, another one in front of the prime. minister's office uh yesterday. And. again tonight there is one in front of. the US embassy in Tokyo. >> And Kurumi, what are the protesters. calling for? Do do they want US troops. to to leave Japan or or is it something. not as extreme as that? It's a mix but. yeah one of the main things is that is. for less presence of US military in. Japan but also just to have some sort of.

justice I mean just the number of cases. that have gone unreported or unaccounted. for they estimate is is significant and. this is something that's been going on. again for a very long time. Uh, one of. the women, local women in Okinawa I. spoke to just yesterday to hear about. what it's been like on the ground there. Her, she told me her immediate reaction. to hearing the news of this murder was. not again. The sense that this keeps. happening over and over, capturing the. sense of exhaustion and the feeling that.

repeated promises have not prevented. another tragedy like this one. Jeffrey Archer, the British politician. and author, has died at the age of 86. after rising to fame as an MP for the. Conservative Party. He sold hundreds of. millions of books around the world. But. his political career became mired in. scandal and he spent two years in prison. after being convicted of perjury. Our UK. politics correspondent Rob Watson is at. the Conservative Party conference. I.

asked him how the news of Jeffrey. Archer's death had been received there. The current Conservative Party leader, Kemmy Benedo, said uh she was. heartbroken that she wouldn't be getting. any more texts messages from him. She. got one on the day that he died just. before coming here to the conference. The second one I'm going to quote from. is John Major, again, a former prime. minister, cuz I think it's fascinating. It gets to the heart of it. He says, "We. have lost a man who lived one of the. most remarkable lives of our age, and.

that's why we're talking about him, and. that's why people here are sad. He. certainly did live a very long and. eventful life. Rob, I mean, let's. reflect on that for a moment. Jeffrey. Archer uh started out as a a politician. Where did he come from? So he came from kind of relatively. humble origins and there's all sorts of. stories about his his own father. But I. I think what makes him such an. extraordinary figure and I think why. John Major used the phrase that he did. is that you know most in life you're.

going to have a rise and fall right but. in Jeffrey Archer's case there were by. my reckoning Celia three rises two. falls. So he became an MP at a very. young age uh 29 in the 1960s. He then. had to give up being a politician. because he went broke and bankrupt. Then. he started this amazing comeback career. as an astonishing uh thriller writer uh. writing 300 selling 300 million books. He tried to make a political comeback. but then he was accused of uh paying a. sex worker. He then accused the.

newspapers of liel won the case but then. a few years later was accused of lying. in court in that liel case and went to. prison for two years. You see what I. mean about the uh the three rises and. the two falls? Absolutely. And so in. 2001 he was convicted of perjury and. then he was sent to prison. He ended up. writing about his time in prison and. reflecting on that time he he he. maintained notoriety even during that. moment. Uh yes he was not a man who. would stop writing at any price. So yes.

he wrote his prison diaries and then. came back out of prison and slowly. rebuilt his reputation and his life and. continued publishing and writing. Indeed, I think I'm right in thinking. that he's got a novel that's just about. to come out. I think it was about to be. published this week and he was going to. be going to all the various literary. festivals. So, yeah, he had to come back. from the from the sort of shame of. course. I mean, I remember as a young. reporter the kind of scandal that that. blew around the fact that he had that.

he'd paid a sex worker and then taken. the newspapers to court, then gone to. prison himself. I mean, it was. extraordinary. I mean, who on earth. could come back from a blow like that? Well, the person who could come back was. Jeffrey Ar. >> Absolutely. I mean, he's the ultimate. comeback kid, isn't he? Or he was. I. Rob, I mean, most of our people in our. audience will know him because of his. books. Why do you think his books were. so successful around the world? >> So, I make a small confession here that. I that I haven't read Jeffrey Archer's. as books, but I have been talking to all. of my colleagues and all the reviewers.

I know. Well, it's better to be honest, right? Uh but I am told by people who. love his books that he's just the. ultimate storyteller whether that's his. you know whether that's the books that. he that he wrote at the start of his. career whether it's his prison diaries. and also just in person and that bit I. had experience that he is if you're in. an audience where Jeffrey Archer was. telling a story you were going you were. going to pay attention. >> and last let's finish with a look at a. space invention that's changed the way. we look at the universe around us the.

BBC World Service has launched a new. four-part series of its acclaimed 13. minutes podcast. 13 Minutes Trouble with. Hubble follows the Hubble Space. Telescope from its final preparations. for launch through its deployment in. orbit, the discovery of a devastating. flaw and then the nailbiting mission to. repair the telescope in space. The. podcast is presented by the high-profile. space scientist Dame Dr. Madia Darren,

who told us more about it. The Hubble. Space Telescope was a crazy idea by a. scientist called Lyman Spitzer. And he. thought, why not have a telescope up in. space? Because we have telescopes here. on the ground. They work beautifully, but the atmosphere gets in the way. It. causes turbulence. It absorbs some of. the wavelengths we couldn't otherwise. see. So why not put a telescope up in. space? And the Hubble Space Telescope. was the culmination of that crazy dream. And with it, we were hoping to get new. views of the universe. Firstly, it's a.

um a 4.2 sorry a 2.4 meter mirror. So. with this big mirror, we'll be able to. see things in much more detail and also. will be up above the atmospheric. turbulence. >> So such an elegant idea behind the. Hubble Space Telescope. But things. weren't quite so simple, were they, when. the telescope was first launched into. space? That's what your podcast is. talking about. Can you take us to that. moment when an a problem was. encountered? >> The Hubble Space Telescope had a bit of. a roller coaster ride. So first of all.

it was designed and built but then there. was a huge hiatus because of the. Challenger disaster but eventually sort. of 10 years later it was launched into. space. People were so excited you. getting those first images but some. people noticed that those images weren't. as as as crisp as they could be. They. noticed that the images were blurry and. they put it down to all sorts of things. But eventually they realized that the. primary mirror of the telescope, the. main bit of the telescope had been. mismanufactured and so it was up there. in space but it wasn't getting good.

images. >> A real team effort to try to fix that. problem. Right. >> Yes. And so I um the podcast does does. just that. It takes people through the. roller coaster ride and you see it from. their personal perspective, you know, sitting there looking at the screens as. the first images come through. Oh my. goodness, you what's wrong with them? And then yes, the It almost like solving. a mystery. You know, what is wrong with. the telescope? Why aren't we getting. these images? And they got it down to. sort of a problem with the mirror. But. the problem was tiny, minuscule. I I.

think the outer edge of the mirror was a. 50th of a human hair out, but that was. what was causing the blurry blurring of. the images. So the challenge was you we. can't replace the mirror. We can't bring. the telescope back down to earth. So how. do we fix it? and a number of. scientists, engineers worked together to. come up and they effectively made Hubble. some glasses. So they took one of the. instruments out, replaced it with um. this optics that would uh actually focus. the image and then send it to the other.

uh instruments on board. So it was a. challenge, but they succeeded. >> Absolutely incredible. So what can we. get from the Hubble Space Telescope now. back on Earth? So Hubble has now been up in space for. 36 years and it has transformed. It. lived up to expectations. So it had that. sort of you know blip in the beginning. It was all fixed and now it is giving us. glorious images. I think many of us. would have seen some of them and they. make my heart sing to see them. But on. top of that it started solving some of.

the challenging questions we've been. asking like you know the size and scale. of the universe. One of my favorite. images from Hubble is the Hubble Deep. Field. And this is a sort of an image. taken of a tiny bit of space about 1. millimeter square at arms length. And it. looked at it for 10 whole days to get a. really long exposure. Now, it was. assumed that this piece of space was. empty, but when we got the details back, we realized it was full of galaxies from. the early universe. And we were able to.

understand that in the whole of the. universe there are around you 200. billion galaxies. Our galaxy is the. Milky Way and it contains 300 billion. stars and our local star is the sun. So. it really set the scale of you the size. of the cosmos. >> And that's all for this edition of the. Global News podcast. If you'd like to. get in touch, our contact details are. below. I'm Celia Hatton. Until next. time, goodbye.